User-alterable network game system and method

ABSTRACT

The present invention provide an open network game system and method, including: a server end having a database for storing the required data for editing game interfaces; and a user end having a data acquiring module, an interface editing module, and an event editing module, wherein the data acquiring module acquires the required data from said server end for editing game interfaces, allowing said interface editing module to edit and generate an interface documentation accordingly. Moreover, when said user end edits a game event, the data acquiring module acquires the required data from said server end for editing a game interface and transmit the edited documentation to said server end for verification of the edited documentation, and further converts the valid documentation to a network game event recognizable by network games, and lastly publish the game event to allow other user ends to acquire and execute the game event.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to network game systems and methods, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a user-alterable network game system and method that provide users with greater liberty and flexibility in editing network games at a user's end.

2. Description of Related Art

Computer games being primarily played in a single-unit machine used to be a mainstream before the popularity of network games. In view of the inferior Artificial Intelligence (AI) compared with human intelligence, there were very limited source of fun and pleasures that players could gain and enjoy from playing games on a single-unit machine. Although a minority of games such as Total Annihilation, Red Alarm, and Starcraft can be played by linking to a local network or via number-dialing, such games can only be shared by a few users (generally less than 8 users altogether), thus limiting the time for sharing the play, lacking variety and humanity due to a number of limitations.

With the rapid development of networking technology in recent years, various sorts of bandwidth techniques have enabled transmission speed over the internet to get faster and faster and thus multiplayer network games have become increasing popular. These games are played across a computer network, for example the Internet or World Wide Web, and permit a significant number of geographically dispersed and distant users to participate simultaneously in a single game. As network games uniquely feature in allowing multiple players to play synchronously over the internet, thus providing users and players with much greater interactivities or challenges that an old-time single-unit computer game cannot possibly compete and thus become an important source of entertainment for people to spend and enjoy their leisure time with, specially among youngsters.

Concurrently, an ordered and gradually expanding network game industry has emerged as a result of a continuous progress of networking technology. In addition to the inherent industrial values in network games per se, it also affects relevant fields including industries of telecommunication, electronic communications, electronic mails, software, culture and media, facilitating development of economy as a result.

The existing system configuration of network games is primarily constructed to comprise a network game server terminal with a plurality of network game user ends. Under such system configuration, network games are set up by network game designers and do not permit alterations by the users. After a network game user has adapted himself to certain interface configuration of games, it is often difficult for a user to readapt to a new interface configuration due to the established old habits, and even many would just give up playing certain games merely due to the unaccustomed interface configuration. Consequently, network games designed by game designers are known to lack variety and thus decrease game players' interest after a while of playing. To counter this problem, there is provided an alterable network game interfaces in the market that allow the users to alter network game interfaces as required. However, in fact, this method is merely done by compressing packets of game pictures and providing the same in said game installation catalogs, such that the user can make simple modifications or use similar pictures to substitute the original pictures in order to achieve the purpose of modifying the game interface. In such a method network game users can only modify or produce game pictures based on the original pictures but are unable to change the size, the interface configuration, or the control items of the interface. Moreover, since a user cannot choose from multiple interfaces when changing new pictures, it is necessary to copy new pictures into the installation catalog of a network game user end each time any pictures are changed so as to cover the existing pictures, making the process extremely inconvenient and inefficient to accomplish.

Further, as far as the contents of network games is concerned, except for settings of game pictures and audio music sound effects, the events in the games are of most importance since the normal proceeding of a whole game is based on a combination of a series of game events. However, the events of the existing network games are usually done by game producers and then fixedly installed in a server end, allowing only game developers to have access to modifications of game events. Due to the cost and manpower concerns, game developers are often unable to change the game events in time to satisfy the constant demands for variety and novelty, and more than often the modified game events fail to satisfy the demands as lacking freshness after a first time play, thereby adversely decreasing the value of games per se.

Therefore, there exists a need and is highly desirable for the industry to provide an open system and method that allows network game users at a user end to edit network games as required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In light of the foregoing drawbacks in the prior art, a primary objective of the present invention is to provide an open system and method that allows network game users at a user end to edit network games as necessary and at will.

Another primary objective of the present invention is to provide an open system and method that enhances characteristics of a network game and fun from playing.

Another primary objective of the present invention is to provide an open system and method that reduces the costs of developing network games as well as manpower, resources and time required for the updating and maintenance of network games.

In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives, the invention proposes an open network game system, the system comprising: a server end having a database, the database at least containing the data required for editing the game interfaces; and at least one user end consisting of a data acquiring module, and an interface editing module, wherein the data acquiring module acquires data from said server end that are required for editing the game interfaces, allowing said interface editing module to edit the game interface so as to generate interface documentation, and further saves the generated interface documentation in said user end, thereby providing selection for said user end to produce new game interfaces.

In addition, the open network game system of the present invention further comprises a display module that is adapted to display the saved interface documentation on said user end when said network game system is executed, providing selection to said user end for generating new game interfaces. Also, said display module can display the interface documentation generated by said interface editing module on said user end upon executing said network game.

The database of said user end of the open network game system further comprises data required for editing the game events, and thus correspondingly, said user end is installed with an event editing module, wherein the data acquiring module acquires data from the database of said server end that is required for editing the game events, allowing said interface editing module to edit the game events so as to generate game event documentation, and further transmit the generated documentation to said user end, thereby allowing said server end to perform a validation test on said edited documentation and thereafter convert the valid documentation into a game event recognizable by network games, and further saves said game event in said server end so that it can be published when said network game is updated, allowing other user ends connected to said server end to acquire and execute said game event.

The present invention further discloses an open network game method, which is applied to an open network game system having a server end and at least a user end, the open network game method comprising the steps of: acquiring from the server end the game interface for editing the required data; and performing editing of a game interface for generating an interface documentation based on the acquired data and then saves said documentation in said user end.

The foregoing open network game method further comprises a step of displaying the saved interface documentation in said user end, allowing said user end to choose the required documentation so as to generate new game interfaces for subsequent use.

The foregoing interface data consist of interface elements that include dimensions, locations, shapes and colors for composing a game interface. Accordingly, said user end performs editing of a game interface according to the acquired data for generating an interface documentation further comprising the steps of: editing parameters of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors respectively according to the data of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors consisting said game interface elements; generating an interface docu-documentation according to the edited results and storing said documentation in said user end.

The present invention further discloses an open network game method, which is applied to an open network game system having a server end and at least a user end, the open network game method comprising the steps of: said user end acquiring from the server end the required data for editing the game events; said user end performing editing of a game event to generate an event documentation according to the acquired data and further transmitting the edited documentation to said server end; said server end verifying the validity of the edited event documentation and then converting the valid documentation into a network game event recognizable by network games, and further saves the converted game event in said server end if the edited documentation is valid, or proceeds to end the open network game method if the edited documentation is invalid.

The foregoing open network game method further comprises a step of publishing said game event upon updating said network game system, thereby allowing other user ends connected to said server end to acquire and execute said game event.

Accordingly, the open network game system and method proposed by the present invention enable network game players to perform editing of network game interfaces and game events as required, thereby significantly increasing fun from playing network games and thus providing more distinctive characteristics to network games as a result. Moreover, since the open network game system allows network game players to edit the game interfaces and events according to the users' preferences, and also the game events can be verified by the server end and thereafter be published on network games when the system is updated, thereby tremendously reducing costs of manpower, resources and time that are required for developing new games so as to satisfy the constant novelty demands of game players, and at the same time, effectively managing the game events edited by the user ends for safety control and easy maintenance.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments, with reference made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1(A) is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of the open network game system according to the invention;

FIG. 1(B) is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of another preferred embodiment of the open network game system according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an editing module of the open network game system according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of an event handling module of the open network game system according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the steps of performing a preferred embodiment of the open network game method;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the detailed steps of performing the step S12 of the open network game method as depicted in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the steps of performing another preferred embodiment of the open network game method; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the detailed steps of performing the step S24 of the open network game method as depicted in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is described in the following with specific embodiments, so that one skilled in the pertinent art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention. The present invention may also be implemented and applied according to other embodiments, and the details may be modified based on different views and applications without departing from the spirit of the invention.

FIG. 1(A) illustrates the basic configuration of the open network game system according to the invention. As shown, the open network game system 1 of the present invention is comprised of: a server end 11, and at least a user end 12, wherein said server end 11 consists of a database 111 and said user end 12 consists of a data acquiring module 121, an interface editing module 122, a display module 123, and a storage module 125.

The database 111 installed in said server end 11 is used to store the edited data, wherein said edited data at least comprises the required information for the user end 12 to edit network game interfaces. The foregoing game interface data comprise a plurality of interface elements of said network game interface, wherein said interface elements comprise, for example, the dialogue frame appeared in a network game, character/article columns, status columns, and selection buttons of the dialogue frame, and said interface elements comprises data of each interface element that describes the outer appearance of an interface element including data of dimensions, locations, shapes, and colors.

The data acquiring module 121 installed in said user end 12 is adapted to connect to said server end 11 when said user end 12 performs editing of a game interface, thereby acquiring data required for editing the game interface from the database 111 of said server end 11 (i.e. the aforementioned interface elements) for said interface editing module 122 to perform interface editing accordingly.

The interface editing module 122 installed in said user end 12 is adapted to edit network game interfaces so as to generate an interface documentation and then store the generated interface documentation for said user end 12 to produce new game interfaces, and further execute network games under the new game interface.

Referring concurrently to FIG. (A) with FIG. 2, as shown the interface editing module 122 installed in said user end 12 is comprised of a dimension editing unit 1221, a location editing unit 1222, a shape editing unit 1223, a color editing unit 1224, and a generating unit 1225, wherein said dimension editing unit 1221 is adapted to edit dimension parameters according to the dimension data of interface elements obtained from said data acquiring module 121, said location editing unit 1222 is adapted to edit location parameters according to the location data of interface elements obtained from said data acquiring module 121, the shape editing unit 1223 is adapted to edit shape parameters according to the shape data of interface elements obtained from said data acquiring module 121, said color editing unit 1224 is adapted to edit color parameters according to the color data of interface elements obtained from said data acquiring module 121, and said generating unit 1225 is adapted to generate interface documentation according to the editing results obtained from said dimension editing unit 1221, said location editing unit 1222, said shape editing unit 1223, and said color editing unit 1224, and further store said interface documentation in said user end 12. For example, said user end 12 may, according to the requirements and preferences, alter an article column originally displayed in a base color of yellow to a base color of red by means of said color editing unit 1224; change the selection buttons of a trade dialogue frame originally in circular shape to heart-shaped buttons by means of said shape editing unit 1223, or move the buttons originally located under a dialogue frame to a new location above the dialogue frame by means of said location editing unit 1222, and lastly, said generating unit 1225 is used to generate a corresponding interface documentation to be used by said user end 12.

Said display module 123 is used to display the new interface documentation edited and generated by said user end 12 for its selection, thereby presenting and displaying the new game interface on said user end 12 for users' play. More particularly, said display module 123 can, upon executing said network game, display the saved interface documentation on said user end 12 for selecting and generating new game interfaces accordingly. Moreover, said display module 123 may, upon executing said network game, display the generated interface documented by said interface editing module 122 on said user end 12 directly, and also, said user end 12 may, according to the requirements, edit and then save a plurality of interface documentation by means of an interface editing function provided by the open network game system 1 of the present invention, and further display all saved interface documentation on said user end 12 by means of said display module 123 for selecting a specific interface documentation and displaying a corresponding network game interface accordingly.

Said storage module 125 is used to save the interface documentation generated by said interface editing module 122, such that said display module 123 can display the interface documentation saved by said storage module 125 for selecting and generating new game interfaces accordingly on executing or in the process of executing the network game.

Further, the open network game system 1 of the present invention comprises an event editing function as shown in FIG. 1(B). Compared to aforementioned FIG. 1(A), in this preferred embodiment, the database 111 of the server end 11′ also contains data required for said user end to perform editing of the game events, and said server end 11′ is further comprised of an event verifying module 112, and an event handling module 113, and said user end 12′ further consists of an event editing module 124.

When said user end 12′ performs editing of network game events, said data acquiring module 121 is initiated to acquire data required for editing the game events from the database 111 of said server end 11′ so as to generate a game event documentation, and further transmit the generated documentation to said server end 11′. The data acquired by said data acquiring module 121 include keywords for events editing and elements of events. In this preferred embodiment, said event keywords may be, for example, a conditional sentence such as “if . . . , then . . . ”, whereas elements of events refer to characters provided for users' play, for example, monsters, beasts, gold coins, helmets, and swords and so forth. By means of the event keywords and event elements, a user may edit, for example, a conditional sentence such as “if five rabbits are caught, every participant/player of the game event will be rewarded with one thousand gold coins” or “if ten cow-head monsters are defeated in a row and 8 horns are collected within thirty minutes, every participant/player of the game event will be rewarded with one thousand points of experience value and a black iron helmet”, thereby desirably extending network play time and increasing fun from playing.

Said event handling module 113 is adapted to handle a valid documentation that has been verified by said event verifying module 124, so as to effectively edit the documentation to become a game event recognizable by network games, and further store said game event for the subsequent publication when the network game system is regularly updated, thereby providing other user ends connected to said server end 11 with a connection to execute said game event.

Referring concurrently to FIG. 3, as shown in the drawing, said event handling module 113 comprises an editing unit 1131 which is used to receive a valid documentation transmitted from said event verifying module 112, and further edit said documentation so as to become a game event recognizable by network games; a registering unit 1132 which is used to temporarily store said game event generated by said editing unit 1131; an updating unit 1133 which is used to periodically and regularly update said database 111 so as to store the registered game event temporarily stored in said registering unit 1132 in said database 111; and a publishing unit 1134 which is used to publish said game event when said updating unit 1133 is initiated, thereby allowing other user ends 12 to acquire and execute the game event.

FIG. 4 illustrates the procedural steps required for performing a preferred embodiment of the open network game method. The operational procedure of this embodiment is to be read in conjunction with the configuration depicted in FIG. 1(A) and FIG. 2. As shown, said network game method comprising the steps described below.

In step S11, the data acquiring module 121 installed in said user end 12 is initiated to acquire data required for editing network game interface from the database 111 of said server end 11. As mentioned above, said interface data comprise interface elements including data of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors for describing the outer appearance of an interface element. Thereafter, step S12 is executed.

In step S12, said interface editing module 122 is initiated to perform editing of a game interface according to the interface data obtained by said data acquiring module 121 to generate an interface documentation, and further store the generated interface documentation in said user end 12. Thereafter, step S13 is executed.

In step S13, said display module 123 is initiated to display the saved interface documentation in said user end 12 for subsequent selecting and generating new interface documentation, wherein said display module 123 can be used to display the documentation saved in said user end 12 upon initiating and executing said network game, or in the process of executing said network game.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the detailed steps involved in performing the step S 12 of the open network game method as depicted in FIG. 4. As shown in step S12, via the interface editing module 122 installed in said user end 12 that consists of a dimension editing unit 1221, a location editing unit 1222, a shape editing unit 1223, a color editing unit 1224, dimension parameters, location parameters, shape parameters, color parameters are edited according to the dimension, location, shape, and color data of the interface elements obtained from said data acquiring module 121. Subsequently step S122 is executed.

In step S122, the generating unit 1225 of the interface editing module 122 is initiated to generate an interface documentation according to the edited results obtained from said dimension editing unit 1221, said location editing unit 1222, said shape editing unit 1223, and said color editing unit 1224, and further store said interface documentation in a registering module 125 of said user end 12.

Accordingly, the open network game method of the present invention can conveniently realize the objective of editing the interfaces of network games at a user end, which is advantageous over prior art technique in that it adds variety to users/game players to prevent them from easily getting bored with repetitive and unchanged games, it also adds characteristics to network games and permits switching of multiple game interfaces simultaneously as desired, thus making games even easier to play without having to adapt to new game interfaces.

FIG. 6 illustrates the steps of performing another preferred embodiment of the open network game method according to the present invention. The operational procedure of this embodiment is to be read in conjunction with the configuration depicted in FIG. 1(B) and FIG. 3. As shown, said network game method comprises the steps as described below.

In step S21, the data acquiring module 121 installed in said user end 12′ is initiated to acquire data required for editing a network game event from the database 111 of said server end 11′. As mentioned above, the data acquired by said data acquiring module 121 include keywords for events editing and elements of events. In this preferred embodiment, said event keywords may be, for example, a conditional sentence such as “if . . . , then . . . ”, whereas elements of events refer to characters provided for the users' play, for example, monsters, beasts, gold coins, helmets, and swords and so forth. Thereafter, step S22 is executed.

In step S22, said event editing module 124 is initiated to perform editing of a game event according to the data obtained by said data acquiring module 121. In this preferred embodiment, the game event may be, for example, “if five rabbits are caught, every participant/player of the game event will be rewarded with one thousand gold coins”, and further transmit the edited documentation generated from editing the game event to said server end 11′. Subsequently, step S23 is executed.

In step S23, said event verifying module 112 of said server end 11′ is initiated to verify the validity of the edited documentation of the game event, for example, if the edited event “if five rabbits are caught, every participant/player of the game event will be rewarded with one thousand gold coins” has been verified to be invalid, the process is directly ended, whereas if the edited event is valid, step S24 is executed.

In step S24, said event handling module 113 of said server end 11′ is initiated to convert the verified documentation to a game event recognizable by network games, and further store said game event in said server end 11′ for the subsequent publication when the network game is updated.

FIG. 7 shows the detailed steps involved in performing the step S24 of the open network game method as depicted in FIG. 6. As shown, in step S241, the editing unit 1131 converts the valid documentation verified by said event verifying module 124 to a game event recognizable by network games, and further store said game event temporarily in a registering unit 1131. Next, step S242 is executed.

In step S242, the updating unit 1133 is initiated to update the game event temporarily saved in said registering unit 1131 to the database 111 of said server end 11′ when said network game system is updated. Thereafter, step S243 is executed.

In step S243, the publishing unit 1134 proceeds to publish said game event when said updating unit 1133 is initiated, allowing other user ends 12′ connected to said server end 11′ to acquire and execute said game event, thereby adding variety and fun in playing.

Accordingly, the open network game system and method proposed by the present invention enable network game players to perform editing of network game interfaces and events as required, thereby significantly increasing fun from playing and thus providing more distinctive characteristics to network games as a result. Moreover, since the open network game system allows network game players to edit the game interfaces and events according to the users' preferences, and also the game events can be verified by the server end and thereafter be published on network games when the system is updated, thereby tremendously reducing costs of manpower, resources and time that are required for developing new games in order to satisfy the constant novelty demands of game players, and at the same time, effectively managing the game events edited by user ends for safety control and easy maintenance.

The invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. 

1. An open network game system, comprising: a server end, which has a database, the database at least containing data required for editing game interfaces; and at least one user end, which comprises a data acquiring module and an interface editing module, wherein the data acquiring module acquires the data required for editing the game interfaces from the server end, allowing the interface editing module to edit the game interfaces to generate interface documentation so as to provide new game interfaces.
 2. The open network game system of claim 1, wherein the generated interface documentation is stored in the user end via the interface editing module, and the user end further comprises a display module for displaying the stored interface documentation on the user end upon executing the network game, so as to provide the user end with selection for generating new game interfaces.
 3. The open network game system of claim 2, wherein the display module is further for displaying directly the interface documentation generated by the interface editing module on the user end in execution of the network game.
 4. The open network game system of claim 1, wherein the user end further comprises a storage module for storing the interface documentation generated by the interface editing module.
 5. The open network game system of claim 1, wherein the data acquired by the data acquiring module from the server end comprise data of a plurality of interface elements of the game interfaces.
 6. The open network game system of claim 1, wherein the data of the interface elements comprise data selected from the group consisting of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors of each of the interface elements.
 7. The open network game system of claim 6, wherein the interface editing module comprises: a dimension editing unit, which is adapted to edit dimension parameters of the interface elements according to the data of dimensions of the interface elements acquired by the data acquiring module; a location editing unit, which is adapted to edit location parameters of the interface elements according to the data of locations of the interface elements acquired by the data acquiring module; a shape editing unit, which is adapted to edit shape parameters of the interface elements according to the data of shapes of the interface elements acquired by the data acquiring module; a color editing unit, which is adapted to edit color parameters of the interface elements according to the data of colors of the interface elements acquired by the data acquiring module; and a generating unit, which is adapted to generate interface documentation according to the editing results obtained from the dimension editing unit, the location editing unit, the shape editing unit and the color editing unit, and further store the interface documentation in the user end.
 8. The open network game system of claim 1, wherein the database of the server end further comprises data required for editing game events.
 9. The open network game system of claim 8, wherein the user end further comprises an event editing module, with the data acquiring module acquiring the data required for editing the game events from the database of the server end, allowing the event editing module to edit games events through the acquired data to generate game event documentation.
 10. The open network game system of claim 9, wherein the server end further comprises an event verifying module adapted to verify validity of the game event documentation generated by the event editing module and further send out the valid game event documentation.
 11. The open network game system of claim 10, wherein the server end further comprises an event handling module, which is adapted to handle and edit the valid game event documentation sent from the event verifying module to become a game event recognizable by the network game, and further store the game event that is to be published when the network game is updated, so as to allow other user ends connected to the server end to acquire and execute the game event.
 12. The open network game system of claim 11, wherein the event handling module comprises: an editing unit for receiving the game event documentation sent from the event verifying module, and editing the game event documentation to become the game event recognizable by the network game; a registering unit for temporarily storing the game event generated by the editing unit; an updating unit for updating the database of the server end so as to store the game event temporarily stored by the registering unit in the database; and a publishing unit for publishing the game event upon executing the updating unit, so as to allow the other user ends to acquire and execute the game event.
 13. An open network game method applied to an open network game system having a server end and at least one user end, the method comprising the steps of: acquiring data for editing game interfaces from the server end; and editing the game interfaces via the user end according to the acquired data so as to generate interface documentation.
 14. The open network game method of claim 13, further comprising a step of storing and displaying the generated interface documentation in and on the user end, so as to provide the user end with selection for generating new game interfaces.
 15. The open network game method of claim 14, wherein the interface documentation stored in the user end is displayed upon executing the network game.
 16. The open network game method of claim 14, wherein the interface documentation stored in the user end is displayed during execution of the network game.
 17. The open network game method of claim 13, wherein the data required for editing the game interfaces comprise data selected from the group consisting of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors of interface elements of the game interfaces.
 18. The open network game method of claim 17, wherein the step of editing the game interface via the user end according to the acquired data to generate the interface documentation further comprises the steps of: editing parameters of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors respectively via the user end according to the data of dimensions, locations, shapes and colors of the interface elements of the game interfaces; and generating interface documentation according to the editing results and storing the interface documentation in the user end.
 19. An open network game method applied to an open network game system having a server end and at least one user end, the method comprising the steps of: acquiring data required for editing game events from the server end; editing the game events via the user end according to the acquired data to generate game event documentation, and transmitting the game event documentation to the server end; and verifying via the server end whether the game event documentation is valid or not; if yes, convert the game event documentation via the server end into a game event recognizable by the network game and storing the game event in the server end; if no, ending the open network game method.
 20. The open network game method of claim 19, further comprising a step of publishing the game event upon updating the network game system, so as to allow other user ends connected to the server end to acquire and execute the game event. 